What the??

I think the title here pretty much sums up this one...

I guess our renovations could of been worse!


- BOO

"X" marks the spot...

As some of you may know, after Hurricane Katrina, FEMA went around New Orleans checking all the houses. They would spray paint an "X" on the homes. Each quadrant of the "X" had a meaning- whether or not the house had been searched, if there were bodies, the date it was searched, and who searched it.
Sorry for the morbid beginning but I promise you this will get design related! 

 So here are some of the X's in our hood...

 

So some clever person came up with this art installation below to always remember Katrina.

 

The artist must of traced the original FEMA marking, made a stencil, and then cut it from a steel plate and mounted it back over the original markings. Here are some side views:

 

 It's very subtle but I think it's a beautiful way to remember such an unforgettable event in our history.

- BOO

She's Crafty... Sewing Pillows!

We've inherited my wonderful neighbors love seat and I love the shape of it but it is in need of reupholstering. Also, it happens to be almost the same color as our sofa and I don't want our living room to be too matchy matchy. Since the tight budget is always into play, I have to get crafty on this one. Of course I have a stash of fabrics so hopefully I can do this whole job FREE!

 Here's what the sofa looks like now:

I do not have a before shot of the little pillows that came with it but below is me sewing the new covers for the pillows.

I briefly worked in a fabric store so I have some discontinued samples I kept in hopes of making pillows with them. Turns out these little samples were exactly the size I needed for my two pillows!

Close up of fabric. 

There is a slight pattern so I had to make sure to center it before cutting the two sides. 

Sewing the cording was a first for me. I have made pillows before, just not with cording. It's a lot easier than I thought it would be. It takes time getting used to sewing it into the seam of the pillow though.

This is my moms AWESOME new sewing machine!! It's a Brother and it makes sewing so unbelievably easy!! It's all computerized so there isn't even a foot pedal! I think I can sew in almost half the time with this new machine. 

It has a TOUCH SCREEN!! 

OK, sorry for the tangent about awesome sewing machine but here's one of the pillows pretty much done. I just have to hand stitch the last bit to close it. No zippers here. Silk is involved so I am not about to wash that! The cording is this beautiful lime green/goldish silk I stole from my mom. SSsshhhh...

I hope to cover the sofa in this fun Florence Braudhurst fabric one of my friends gave me in NYC. 

Unfortunately I think I am 2 yards short of being able to use it!! Here it is with the little pillows:

The drapes are the same fabric as the cording so you can get a better idea of the color. If I can't use this fabric then I might do a rich navy blue instead. I hope not though because like I said, I hope to do this whole project fo FREE!

 -BOO

Merry Christmas from N'awlins Yall!

Some neighborhood Christmas spirit - ENJOY!

 

Our attempt at some sort of decoration:

I think the permits in the door add a nice touch, no?

No tree this year so we settled for our mantle to house the gifts!

Now back to baking cookies!

- BOO

Our Adventure...

 Hello! We finally did our photo shoot at our secret location (the abandoned Six Flags in New Orleans East!) It is super SPOOKY there and totally cool!! The weather was pretty good for pictures and I just wanted to share a couple here. I think I might be manipulating some of them in photo shop but here they are au natural...

Unfortunately on this blog I can't get the photos really big, but I think they will look cool blown up! (you can click on each picture to see it bigger) There are TONS more than this but I just wanted to put a couple up. We had so many ideas I think we may go back for more.

Up next: Sewing pillows and my 1st cording attempt!

- BOO

Photo Shoot!

Today some friends and I are finally doing a photo shoot we've been planning for weeks now! We went and scouted the place and now we're ready to shoot. I am super excited and the weather is great! It's a secret location but I'll give you a hint:

More pictures to come!

 - BOO

Color Inspiration : DOOR

Yesterday I primed our new door and all I could think about was what colors are we going to paint it?! I want something fun and unexpected. So now I have been searching for color inspiration. The door has so many tiny details that I think it will be fun to highlight them all. 

Here is a reminder of what the door looks like:

So here were some thoughts as far as color:

I am really leaning towards a combination of the two images above. Lavender, rich purple, navy blue, hot pink and a little green. 

The one above is fun - I am really into navy blue these days too. Give me some hot pink & navy blue and ya girls in heaven!! 

 -BOO

Favorites from LONNY...

LONNY, one of my favorite online magazines just came out with their holiday issue. 

Some of my favorites:

 

 The image above isn't exactly my color preference but it gave me a DIY idea with the storage bench. You could easily turn the Ikea Lack bookcase on it's side and create the same look. Just go to a fabric store and get the foam & fabric. Put some casters on there for an even more custom look and there ya go! Something like this would be great in a foyer and put everyones shoes in the cubby holes. 

 

 I bookmarked the three images above because I'll never get sick of doing something fun with the backs of bookcases. Paint them a fun color or even wallpaper them. I have bought beautiful large sheets of quality decorative paper and cut them to fit in bookcases and it looks great!

 Some possible paper options:

These are so whimsical and fun!

You can even do a metallic embossed paper like the one below for a more classic look.

I of course love the fun pink on the bed and I MUST have that zebra rug!!

LOVE IT!

 - BOO